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Race and Gender Differences in College Major Choice

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  • Lisa Dickson

    (University of Maryland Baltimore County)

Abstract

College major choice varies substantially by gender, race, and ethnicity among college graduates. This study investigates whether these differences are present at the start of the college career and whether they can be explained by variation in academic preparation. It estimates a multinomial logit to evaluate whether students of similar academic backgrounds make similar college major choices at the start of their college career. The results demonstrate that significant differences by gender, race, and ethnicity persist in initial college major choice even after controlling for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score of the student and the high school class rank of the student. Gender differences in major choice are much larger than racial and ethnic disparities. Furthermore, women are significantly more likely to switch away from an initial major in engineering than are white men.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Dickson, 2010. "Race and Gender Differences in College Major Choice," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 627(1), pages 108-124, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:627:y:2010:i:1:p:108-124
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716209348747
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    4. Budig, Michelle J. & Lim, Misun & Hodges, Melissa J., 2021. "Racial and gender pay disparities: The role of education," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 98, pages 1-1.
    5. Kenneth Khoo & Jaclyn Neo, 2023. "Gender gaps in legal education: The impact of class participation assessments," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(4), pages 1070-1137, December.

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